UConn stunned at home in 91-84 upset to Bluejays

Following a narrow 79-75 win over the Georgetown Hoyas, the No. 5 UConn men’s basketball team returned to action this past Wednesday. The Huskies hosted the Creighton Bluejays at Gampel Pavilion for one of the program’s final matchups in Storrs this season. Much to Dan Hurley’s pleasure, the student section showed up in Storrs. However, it was not enough to get the job done as the Huskies lost 91-84.

Wednesday night also saw one UConn legend get their number retired: Emeka Okafor. The 2004 Final Four MOP wore No. 50 during his three years in Storrs. Okafor played a crucial role in bringing a national championship to Connecticut, accumulating 24 points, 15 rebounds and a pair of blocks in the 2004 national championship game against Georgia Tech. Okafor, the No. 2 pick in the 2004 NBA Draft, is also the Huskies’ all-time block leader.

As has been par for the course this season, Connecticut started the contest slowly. Still getting a feel for things, the program committed numerous undisciplined fouls and had a few breakdowns defensively. Creighton got to the free-throw line several times, jumping out to as large as a six-point lead. For majority of the half, the Bluejays led, and when they didn’t, it was tied. Nik Graves played a significant role in keeping Connecticut at bay.

Graves did an excellent job picking out his spots offensively in the first 20 minutes. Despite not recording a make from three, his 12 points on 5-9 shooting led all Bluejays scorers. While Creighton has plenty of scoring help from nearly everyone else who took the floor, the rebounding discrepancy played an integral role in shaping how the first half went. The Bluejays led 19-16 in that respect.

While Creighton put together a solid 20 minutes, the Huskies kept it close thanks to excellent play from Tarris Reed Jr., Jayden Ross and Braylon Mullins.

Reed was a machine in the paint and on the glass in the first half. The UConn big man excelled at outmuscling his defender and put up a tough bucket. Reed put up 13 points on 6-7 shooting. He also came away with six rebounds in 12 minutes of work.

Ross logged 12 minutes off the bench, more than any other bench player on Connecticut, and did nothing but hold the Huskies together. Offensively, Ross had a solid 2-2, six-point flurry; however, he shone defensively. Ross was switching perfectly, never missing an assignment. He did an excellent job guarding against the pick-and-roll, playing help defense without fouling much and clamping down on his matchup. Ross gave Connecticut quality minutes off the bench when they needed them most, and this perfectly complemented his teammates, who picked up most of the scoring. Postgame, Silas Demary Jr. told the media all the ways he saw Ross contributing.

“I think [Ross] is a lengthy defender that we need, and I think he came in and impacted the game. I think he was on the [offensive] boards and the defensive boards,” Demary said. “[Ross] is giving everything he can, and he’s got to continue, when he gets in, [to] just keep giving that spark defensively.”

A solid way to think of Mullins’ first half is in terms of a roller coaster. It started off with some lows. Mullins took some tough shots that narrowly lipped out, and his defense was not at the level he would like, allowing some looks at the rim. Mullins eventually sat in the middle of the first half, though he was hardly the only one in such a funk. However, once he returned, it was as if a switch flipped. Mullins scored six of his eight first-half points in the final 37 seconds of the half, including a buzzer-beater three at the top of the key. This knotted up the contest at 45-45 at the end of 20 minutes.

Mullins wasted no time out of the break, nailing a triple not even 20 seconds into the half. This was a theme throughout the half as the freshman led the team in second-half scoring with 17 points on 6-14 shooting. Mullins also featured fancy dribbling that put Creighton’s Austin Swartz on the hardwood. However, aside from a few points from Demary in garbage time, UConn struggled to generate consistent offense, while the Bluejays seemed to be gaining their wings thanks to the production from Josh Dix and Blake Harper.

Dix led the way in the second half, putting up 13 points and snagging four rebounds in 17 minutes of work. While Harper’s 12 points on 3-3 shooting hurt the Huskies, the game was lost in the fundamentals of basketball: clean defense and rebounding the basketball. Connecticut lost the second half rebounding battle, 22-19. Excessive fouling marred UConn’s second-half defense. While these numbers are a bit inflated due to garbage time intentional fouling, the Bluejays went an excellent 17-18 from the charity stripe; conversely, UConn finished 7-9 at the free throw line. Postgame, Hurley told the media where he feels his side went wrong defensively.

“We screwed up more things from the scouting standpoint, places that we weren’t supposed to switch, and both guys leave Dix [open], and he hits a [three]. Things that we don’t do typically, that we did,” he said.

Hurley also noted that changes defensively in the future are “possible.”

For a significant stretch of the half, it seemed as though there was a lid on the rim for Connecticut; Creighton seemingly couldn’t miss. Eventually, the Huskies ran out of time, and the Bluejays won 91-84.

The Huskies will be hoping to get back into the win column, and this Saturday, they will have a chance to do so as they visit the Villanova Wildcats in Philadelphia, PA.